Am I Demon
by Elite Ranger Auron
Summary: A transfer student from Demon Hunter Division West named Paul Begtse is sent to DWMA as part of a student trade in order to strengthen relations to other schools. While he's there he makes friends with the gang, and becomes smitten with their scythe meister. Unbeknownst to them Paul has a dark secret of an inner demon living inside him. Can he get rid of it or will he embrace him?
1. Prologue

It's said that some amazing things comes from bad scenarios. This scenario however begins with a brawl in a local tavern.

A couple of men had just arrived to their local town's bar and they all seemed hazed out and were having a hard time acting under normal circumstances. One of them came up to the bartender while all the other men preceded to grab any nearby female waitress.

"Me and my boys are staying for the rest of the night and you all better watch yourselves!" The one man screamed.

"Hey look right here, you can't just go barging right in here and start calling shots." One of the men who originally at the bar said to the group of men.

"Honey don't." A waitress halted him from any further speaking. "It's alright dear, he'll be here for some information, soon they'll all turn into a pile of bodies soon. Just let them have their way for a bit." The waitress whispered into the man's ear, which promptly caused him to walk back to his table and returned to drinking.

And for the next couple of hours, they had their way, partying, drinking and trying to cause any mayhem. Most of the people inside complied without resistance for one reason, a Hunter was arriving to clean up the mess.

And soon a young man with a dark green cloak had arrived to the tavern. The first thing he did was ask the bartender for a bottle of soy milk and was about to head to a nearby table until he accidentally bumped into one of the rowdy men.

"Hey boy, watch where you're going!"

The hooded figure was about to apologize until all the men were surrounding him, now having the desire to fight.

"Men I mean no trouble, I'm just a Hunter looking for information, please-"

Before he could finish, one of them punched him through his hood and on his cheek.

Soundtrack: Disturbed-The Vengeful One

Reeling away, the hooded person caused a bright flash that met everybody and what emerged was a levitating blade. The person finally revealed their face under the hood, revealing a young man's face, in his teens yet he seems disciplined in his eyes. He threw off his cloak, showing a black overshirt with an armor plating under it and grabbed the levitating sword.

"I mean no harm, but if you wish to fight, I'm not accepting apologies."

Soon one person charged right away but the person moved out of the way and grabbed his sword and bashed the man's head with the pommel, knocking him out.

"Anymore?" The person carrying the sword now energetically shouted.

Soon all of the men were charging ahead, trying to get a good hit on the teenager but were too drunk to strike properly. Meanwhile the Hunter was readying his stance and tackled forward, slashing through all of them with ease. He cut through they're knees and arms and even stabbed one of their feet, which caused one of them to cry out in pain. He released the sword and thrown it across the bar and hit one of them right through the shoulder and landed him across the wall like a pincushion.

"The boy's defenseless, now's our chance!"

Realizing he was unarmed, Paul grabbed one of the violent drunks he cut through and thrown him across the rest of the brawlers. Knocking them down like bowling pins. All of the men who arrived were all beaten down and injured from this Hunter.

"Can I get my drink now?" He said walking up to the bartender.

"Christ, Paul, everytime you come in here, it's always a mess."

The Hunter named Paul had an embarrassed smile to him. "Sorry, I didn't mean any trouble, really I don't."

The bartender went ahead and gave Paul a soy milk bottle for him to drink. Then after Paul finished drinking, one of the men had somehow managed to get up and charged straight Paul.

"I'm still here you bast-"

Paul smashed his face with the bottle glass, knocking him out. Soon all of the men's Souls were coming out of their mouths and heading off to a direction. A direction for Paul to follow.

"I knew a convict was here, I just needed to find it's spawns. Good thing they were all possessed." Paul placed money on the counter for the bartender. "Hey everybody!" All of the people in the bar were now looking at Paul. "As an apology for the mess, this hour is on the house by me!" Everybody in the bar cheered for Paul, one of them even put Paul's head around their arm in a playful manner.

"Paul you're going to going grow up into a fine young lad, just like your father!" The man who had Paul in headlock was exclaiming. "Come on and take a drink, nobody will notice!"

"Thanks mister. But I need to go now, need to track the person that caused all of this."

Paul said his goodbyes to everybody and left the bar. Ready to hunt the Demon Convict that started this.

But just as Paul was about to head off and track down his target. A message was received from his brand.

"Mr. Begtse this is Headmaster Malphas here and I'm hoping to not interrupt a hunt but you must report back here immediately. Don't worry, a hunter will take your place."

Paul sighed and realising that this must have been an important announcement. Paul went ahead and headed back to Demon Hunter Division West. When he came back, Paul went straight ahead to Headmasters office. Finally he arrived and greeted him appropriately.

"Headmaster, do you need anything from me?"

Headmaster Malphas paused for a second and announced something that unbeknownst to anybody, would forever change Paul's life...

"I'M BEING TRANSFERRED?!"

Headmaster Malphas was shaking his head in annoyance and made a faint smile.

"Look Paul, you're one of the best Hunters we've had, maybe even one day surpassing your own father. But as of right now we decided to transfer you to a new school, if only temporarily." Headmaster Malphas tried explaining.

"Headmaster we all do respect but of all places you would have me temporarily relocated, Demon Hunter Division East, or Central, why am I transferring to a school that is unrelated to my studies?".

"Well you see Paul, after the defeat of the Kishin Asura, Lord Death has been recently trying to open up relationships to other schools so he can have different students with varying talents learn to control Soul wavelengths and help fight off the madness plaguing there. Our school just happened to be one of the first places he had asked for a student to transfer over to his and see what it's like there. If only for a year."

Paul sighed in disappointment but finally agreed. "Alright then, if this is what you believe to be a good for Demon Hunter, then I will go."

Malphas nodded. "If you find the academy to be of your liking I can put you there full time. Apparently your mother had been there before."

Paul was surprised by the news but still scoffed at the idea. "Hah! I highly doubt that. If my mom rarely talked about being there then I don't see myself enjoying it. I'll go pack myself all my things." He waved goodbye to the Headmaster and headed to his dorm room.

*2 Hours Later.*

As Paul had arrived to the airport, he bought one of the books about Meister's and Weapons. He decided a light read on it might be a good idea for himself to know. Soon he went to the airplane and looked out to window.

"Death City, huh maybe I can learn more about my mom there. I just hope nobody finds out about "him"."

Paul awoke hours later and heard that the plane was reaching Death City.

Paul went ahead and started reading the book The thing that interested him the most was soul resonance and how a weapon was needed to use it.

"What kind of ability so powerful requires another person to use it, what is my resonance?"

All these questions had to be put on hold as the plane had finally land down. Paul grabbed all his bags and after grabbing a coke bottle from the local convenience stand at the airport, called out to the nearest taxi and told him the apartment he was staying at. He drove Paul all the way there and after grabbing all his bags and paying the fee,went inside the apartment. After climbing the set of stairs up the stairs Paul was about to grab his new apartment keys when suddenly he heard...

"MAKA CHOP!"

The first thing Paul saw is a white haired guy of his age knocked out on the door next to his and next to him a girl with dirty blonde pigtails holding a hardcover textbook. They both awkwardly looked at each other for a few minutes until Paul broke the silence.

"Uh, h-hi." Paul waved his hand.

"Oh! I'm so sorry that's just my friend doing something stupid here. His name is Soul Eater my name is Maka Albarn. You must be the new transfer student that Lord Death was talking about."

"Jeez I haven't even been here for a day and people are already talking about me. I guess I'm DWMA's first Demon Hunter transfer." Paul thought. "Yeah I guess I am. The name's Paul Begtse, I'm from Demon Hunter Division West but you seem to already know that. I think you'll need to check on your friend there, I think whatever you did to him may have caused some concussion."

The girl named Maka giggled at him.

"Oh don't worry, he's going to be fine. If we're living next to each other then it'll be fine to get to know, but it's too dark right now, so I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Paul."

"Bye Maka."

She closed the door as well as draged Soul with her. Paul finally got out his keys and opened the door. The rooms were all empty with the exception of a few beds and desks. He put down all his bags on the floor and headed straight to one of the beds, set the alarm clock, and just laid down on it. "So this is where I'm going to be for the next year huh, I guess I might as well make the best out of it. Lord Death wants to meet me tomorrow to give me my weapon, I wonder who it'll be. That Maka chick looks pretty cute, I might have the same class as her. Wow me I've only met her once and now I'm thinking about sitting next to her. I guess maybe this won't be so bad after all" Paul thought as he drifted off into sleep. Thinking about what tomorrow would be.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Mara The Great Sword**

"Oh my god how many stairs are in this goddamn school." Paul thought to himself as he was climbing up the stairs to DWMA for the first time. "

"Jeez I though I had good stamina, the students here must be marathoners. Oh whatever besides Lord Death has excused me for today so I can meet my weapon. I wonder who it would be? Maybe like a jacked up dude who can turn into a sledgehammer, or maybe like a mysterious guy that can turn into a machete, that would be fucking awesome." Paul was monologuing to himself until he found out how many stairs he still has left. "Screw it, I'm just sprinting up to this place." Paul started hauling ass through the stairs and finally up to where he could see DWMA. His mind was blown, he had never seen a school, much less an academy, so intricately designed and made. He went ahead and just stood there for a few minutes until he realized that he needed to go see Lord Death.

Paul had actually never seen what Lord Death looked like in person, thoughts of a dark, skeletal, being from the shadows emerged into Paul's mind as he started thinking what Lord Death would look like. What he actually was something completely different.

"Wassup! You must be Paul Begtse right?"

"Um, yes I am. It is an honor to meet you Lord Death." Paul bowed.

"Oh please, don't treat this very formally, you and by extension, all of us here at DWMA will get to get know each other just fine. I've read your reports on Demon Hunter, you're quite a prolific student. And only 15 years old, you'll have some strong competition to deal with though. I assume you've met Maka Albarn already, right?"

"Yes sir, she seems very nice and very attrativ- I mean arrestin- I mean she's nice to look at- I mean she's nice, yeah nice."

"Well then, seems like I did make a good choice in having you stay next her." Lord Death chuckled "But what I to talk about is your weapon, it's about time I showed you find who your partner will be for the next year."

As Lord Death finished explaining, a girl with light skin, black hair, and blonde streaks appeared from the door and was looking very grumpy from the look of her eyes.

"Paul, this is Mara Flint, Mara this is Paul Begtse."

The girl named Mara was seemed very uninterested. "Look Lord Death this has been what the fourth or third time you tried to pair me with a Meister. I know my wavelength is unnatural so I don't get having another Meister really helps, even if he is from another school. I appreciate the efforts but please I would hate to disappoint you sir."

"Oh but this one is different Mara I've looked into the wavelengths of Paul and-" Lord Death started whispering into Mara's ear so that Paul couldn't hear it. Mara changed her expression to slight relief.

"Alrighty then! Paul I want you to close your eyes and put your hand over Mara."

Paul did just and after a few seconds, felt a weird surge in his body. Paul felt like he was being connected, like he was becoming whole. When Paul finally opened his eyes he saw that he was holding a claymore on both of his hands. It looked amazing no scratches, torns, or even any stains on it, most shockingly it had no weight to it, it felt like the weapon was a part of him

Paul's face was in complete awe of how Mara had transformed at the palm of my hands.

"Fantastic, Paul! I knew someone like you could get it on the first try. Now I think you've already know what resonating with your partner is right?"

"Yes Lord Death. Can I resonate here?"

"I think it would be better trying to resonate on a Kishin. How about I give you your first assignment?"

"Already! Shouldn't I at least go to my classes first? Then again I want try out Mara." Out of pure recklessness and pride, Paul decided to accept his first assignment.

"It would pretty funny to know that the new student's already collecting souls." Paul thought.

As Paul finished saying that Mara had gone back to human form and was hugging me.

"Finally I found you, the perfect man!" She said to Paul.

"Um, what does that mean." Paul asked her.

"Shut up. You have a badass weapon now and I finally have a partner I call it a win win situation."

As Mara let go of Paul, Lord Death had started talking about the assignment the new Meister and Weapon duo were being given.

"The mission is simple really, there is a kishin egg on a nearby city of ours, find and kill it, then grab it's soul and you'll be on your way to a Death Scythe."

"Sounds pretty simple, reminds me of being given an assassinate contract on Demon Hunter."

"I knew you would say that, but I want you to be grouped with another Meister, to ensure safety."

"Sure who am I going with?"

"Well since you've already meet them, I want to pair you up with Soul and Maka."

On the outside Paul looked nonchalant about it, but on the inside he was a nervous wreck."Oh my god they're actually going to watch me fight. What if I crack and have to use "it"? Will they see me as a freak because of it? But if I do kill it and get its soul will I I impress Maka? Nah she's probably seen it before." Finally Paul said...

"Fine! I'll kick the Kishin's ass and make sure that nobody thinks that I'm just an amateur at fighting Kishin or Demon, it's just another prey to kill! I'm going back to my apartment to get ready, see you Mara." Paul ran off and headed to his apartment to prepare.

"Seems like my Meister wants to go down to work already. I'll speak on his behalf that he accepts the assignment. Thanks Lord Death, I'll go catch up to Paul and see how's he doing." Mara left as well, leaving Lord Death by himself.

"Whew, I knew Paul would resonate with Mara, now let's see if his name can live up to it when combating against Kishins."

* * *

Okay this is where I should end it. Please R&R and give me your thoughts on it. Next chapter's going to be our first fight scene with our new Meister Paul, or rather, scenes. But I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave it at that.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The First Night**

Paul was walking with his partner Mara in the city that Lord Death wanted them to go to find their first Kishin. Maka had decided that they should split up to cover more ground and the first person to find it, gets its soul. This was what she told Paul, but in reality, she was watching over Paul to make sure he didn't mess up on his first mission.

"Let's play a game." Mara said.

"What is it?" Paul said.

"You play video games right?" Paul nodded.  
"Well I say a video game title and you say another that starts with the last word of the title I said If you can't find one then I win and vice versa. I'll start Left 4 Dead."

"That's easy, Dark Souls." Paul said

"Silent Hill." Mara said.

"Legend Of Zelda." Paul said.

"Assassin's Creed ." Mara said.  
"And we're back to D, Darksiders." Paul said.  
Before Mara could answer they found some freak covered in blood and had a machete on him, it seems like this was the Kishin.

"Looks like we found our client. Oh and Saints Row." Mara said.  
"World Of Warcraft, are you ready Mara? Paul said.  
"You act like I'm not." Mara said.  
"So a Meister and his Weapon finally decided to capture my soul, I hope you're for your inevitable death!" The Kishin screamed.

"Hmph, my thoughts exactly." Paul said

Mara had transformed into a great sword for Paul to wield. It felt weird for him to carry such a blade as big as this on one hand without any weight to it but he would most likely get used to it.

Soundtrack: Shaman's Harvest - Dangerous

Paul immediately starts swinging his blade right at the Kishin with both of his arm, the Kishin had managed to evade but not before Paul stepped one foot forward and slashed the torso of the Kishin, it wasn't thick enough to kill it but it was at least the first strike directly at the Kishin.

"Rule number one always double tap your attacks." Paul reminded himself.

The Kishin dashed toward him and was about to slash through Paul with his machete but Paul blocked it with Mara. The two swung at each other with each slash creating some distances between the two, sparks flew from each swing connecting. Paul's swings were faster but the Kishin's machete had more impact causing Paul to shift backwards.  
Paul soon went in for the offensive as he started swinging even harder, trying to break the Kishin's defense. Unfortunately the Kishin had too much strength within it to break, so Paul had to find another strategy. But before Paul could think of anything else, the Kishin started swinging his machete towards him. Paul was now in the defensive. Paul and Kishin's blades clashed for a minute until Paul just went and headbutted the Kishin out of the way. Regaining his breath, Paul had to think of something.

"How about we resonate? We aren't going anywhere in this pace." Mara said

"Right, but I have to keep calm." Paul breathed in and closed his eyes. He felt a surge of energy start going through him, like he was given a shot of adrenaline. Soon there was an almost hellfire like aura around him creating a burning ascense. Soon his Weapon partner had the same fiery aura to her and his blade was now infused with flames.

"Soul Resonance, Hell Razor!" Both of them cried out.

All that aura vanished but retracted back to Paul making his pupils turn into glowing red and giving the great sword even more power. Paul ran toward the Kishin and swung his now fire linked blade at the Kishin, it's machete melted right off and Paul went in for the kill as he stabbed the Kishin right in the stomach and finished it off by decapitating it's head off, dissipating it's body and showing only it's soul.

Paul was breathing heavily after the fight, while Mara had went ahead and retrieved the Kishin's soul.

"Something doesn't feel right." Paul said.

"Why, we kicked it's ass and you say something's wrong?" Mara asked.

"No it feels like something different should have happened when we resonated. It probably must be the-"

"Tatoo." Mara finished for Paul.

"You knew how about it, How?" Paul asked.

"When you told me where your apartment was and I asked if I could wait while you changed I saw a black tattoo on your right arm because your door wasn't full closed." Mara said.

"Wait, why were you peeking-"

Paul sighed and was about to ask why she was looking at his branding but suddenly a figure dash toward and tried to nearly cut his head off. Paul dodged it and grabbed Mara instantly. Paul had Mara readied as the figure revealed itself. He had black hair similar to Paul's but was slicked back whereas Paul's was combed. He had a black trench coat and undershirt. He was looking straight on at him.

"Ravana" The figure said.

"What."

"My name, the last name you will remember when I kill you!"

Soundtrack: Open Wounds-Skillet

A sword was instantly constructed out of Ravana's right hand as he went ahead charged right at the Meister but Paul blocked him with Mara. As they were clashing blades, Paul could barely keep up. This Ravana kept swinging harder and faster while Paul could only use his energy to defend himself from another slash. Soon, another sword appeared on Ravana's other hand and swung toward Paul. He side stepped out of the way, but was caught in the other sword's radius, and was slashed on the upper chest by Ravana. Paul began holding the open wound on his free hand.

"Who the hell is this guy, he's fighting like somebody in my school, fighting like me. But I haven't seen someone like him on the alumni listings for my school." Paul thought.

"Whoever he is, we can't let him live. He looks like another Kishin hiding as a human." Mara replied.

Paul was about to reply but was forced to block his great sword toward Ravana as he had both his swords swinging straight at him. Paul was just trying to get on even ground but Ravana was assaulting him with swings. He had to either block or dodge out of it's direction.

"Damn it! Looks I have no choice, I have to use my branding." Paul thought.

As Paul says this he put his right hand out and starts to conjure up a long dark orange sword with an angry demon face on the hand guard of the blade. Paul put the blade on his shoulder and Mara on his other hand. This was Paul's most observed blade, which was stronger than the original version.

"Alright you son of a bitch, round 2!" Paul yelled.

Paul was now on the offense with Ravana now swinging through his blades. Both swords clashed but Paul knew even if they did have the same brand, Ravana had weaker copies then him and they'd eventually break then he can go and take him down. Eventually Ravana had gotten angry with the fact he was being pushed back.

"Enough! This is going on for too long, it's time for to you die." Ravana said.

Ravana created two new blades out of his brand which preceded to slice through Paul's own blade and disarm Paul from Mara. Ravana slashed through Paul's shoulder and immediately tackled him to the ground and grab Mara by it's grip, he managed to lock her soul into her weapon form and cuffed Paul's hands and legs into orbs of pure energy, bounding him so that Ravana can finish Paul off.

Suddenly a loud noise can be heard behind Ravana.

"Genie Hunter Slash!" Maka yelled.  
Ravana felt a painful cut through his body, he looked behind him and saw Maka readied with her Scythe in hand.

"Dammit, I'm too late." Ravana said.

"Who are you? Your not a Kishin, I can feel your soul, it's something stronger. But what are you?" Maka asked.

Ravana gritted his teeth and put his hand on the floor and in a flash, teleported out of the area. Maka started looking around to see where he went but soon gave, and lowered her scythe for Soul to come out and started running towards Paul, who was now free of his cuffs.

"Paul! Are you okay?"

Paul revealed the cut inflicted on his upper left shoulder as he showed Maka, as soon she saw it Mara then immediately ran to Paul and nearly tackled him to the ground, now in her human form.

"Mara it's okay I'm fine." Paul said trying to push his good arm away from her massive embrace.

"Shut up okay! I almost lost you, here I was finally getting my first Meister and he was almost taken away from me." Mara said with tears in her eyes.

"It's my fault I should have arrived faster so that you wouldn't get hurt on your first mission." Maka said.

Paul started to blush as she said that, he felt embarrassed that he needed to be rescued but was relieved that Maka came on time to save him.

"Look I hate to ruin our emotional breakdown but we need to heal up Paul's shoulder." Soul said.

"Your right Soul, let's get out of here and report this to Lord Death." Maka said.

"Hey Paul." Mara said releasing her hug from Paul.

"Yeah" Paul replied weakly.

"Tales of Vesparia." Mara said grinning at Paul.

"What are you guys talking about?" Soul said confused about what they were talking about.

"Oh it's nothing me and Paul made a game to ease up stress." Mara replied.

"Mara..." Paul said.

"Yeah?"

"Animal Crossing." Paul replied with a weak smile...

Meanwhile far away from the city, Ravana had teleported out of the area, he was wounded on his back from the slash that was inflicted on him. As he started healing himself a voice was heard.

"So you want the Hunter too."

"Who's there!" Ravana started to look around and saw nothing.

"Relax, I'm only a voice and I have an offer. I will show you where to find the Hunter and you can kill and I can extract his growing Demon soul."

"Why would I need your help?"

Ravana questioned.

"Paul knows about you, and the next time you face him he'll be prepared for you. I can find him at his most vulnerable and you can take the finishing blow."

"Fine I accept but only for Paul and after this we are never speaking to each other again." Ravana said.  
As soon as he said that a portal opened right in front of him. He realized this was probably the source of the voice in his head and entered in.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Aftermath**

"Lord Death this is Maka reporting here." Maka said to the mirror showing Lord Death in his room. "Paul managed to get his first Kishin soul, just like you planned it but there was a problem, a mysterious stranger showed up right after Paul had collected the soul and tried to kill him. I managed to stop him but Paul seems distraught, he's trying to contact his headmaster to explain what's been going on. He told me he saw something that was "school matters"." Maka folded two fingers in both hands.

"Did you get to see who this stranger looked like?" Lord Death replied back to Maka.

"Yes his face seemed almost charred, he had a overcoat that looked almost like mines but was open and had cuts to it. He had a dead look to him and he was focused on only Paul. I used a slash against him but he was barely hurt by it., like it He managed to get away though, saying that he was too late."

"Whoever he is, he's after Paul. Maka I want you to keep over a watch over Paul. If you want, introduce him to your friends, the more people he meets and befriends the more he's protected." Lord Death told Maka. As soon as he said that though a man in red hair screamed out "MAKA, IT'S YOUR PAPA, ARE YOU ALRIGHT!? toward Lord Death's mirror. Maka immediately closed the mirror between the death room and headed outside.

Meanwhile Paul was on top of the roof of an abandoned building with Mara. He had drawn a pentagram on the roof and was chanting in some weird language.

"Are you sure you guys are demon hunters and not just a bunch of satanist that like to kill who they worship?" Mara asked as Paul had stopped chanting to reply.

"Our teachers say to hunt a demon you must learn to adapt like one and learn how they act. Besides don't you guys talk on mirrors?" Paul replied to Mara who just rolled her eyes.

"Amayo de blades may ol dooain mirc malphas." Paul had chanted to the pentagram. Suddenly a beam of light appeared over the pentagram and wiped it out replacing it with a astral projection of what seemed like Headmaster Malphas's room.

"Oh Paul, great to see you, how are you anyway? I see you have a pretty lady next to you." Headmaster Malphas said to Paul who blushed at his comment.

"Um... actually sir I have an urgent matter to discuss to you. You see I was attacked by a man named Ravana who was after me to personally kill me. But that wasn't it, it seemed like he had the same branding and powers as I do which means he can create weapons out of his mind. I want to know if anybody with my powers has gone missing because that would explain why he had the same powers as mine but were more potent." Paul told Headmaster Malphas about it.

"Actually we don't have any files on any alumni with your powers. If this " Ravana" is actually after you then you must report back here immediately, we need to make sure to give you protection because someone with your powers but enhanced is a dangerous person." The Headmaster told Paul in a serious manner.

"It's fine sir, I don't need the extra protection I can deal with this problem myself. Besides I want to stay here." This last sentence shocked his Headmaster as well as himself a little bit. Yes he had only been here for a few days but for some reason he felt he wanted to continue his research on Ravana in Death City. Maybe it was Maka who knows but whatever's the case Paul had wanted to stay here which meant Malphas had to pay up on his bet with Lord Death that Paul didn't want to stay here.

"If you can handle this situation then I can accept that, think of it as a hunt." Malphas had suggested to Paul. "So is that all Paul?" Paul nodded. "Well then that concludes our talk with each other, I'll see you soon." A beam of light shot up and Malphas had dissolved from the beam. Mara then when up to Paul.

"I guess I'll start packing my things then." Mara said as she grinned towards Paul and putted one hand on his right shoulder.

"Wait a minute! Don't you live somewhere else? Why do you need to live with me? Is it for protection, because you know that I can handle myself just fine." Paul kept asking these questions to Mara as he pushed her arm out of his shoulder.

"Honey every Meister and Weapon live with each other you know. Besides I live in one of the dorms inside DWMA for all those students who don't have a partner and they aren't exactly big so I ain't got a lot to pack." Mara said while making a mischievous grin implying that she wanted Paul to help her bring her stuff to his's place even if there wasn't a lot to bring.

Paul then thought to himself that there were more rooms then he thought considering that it was reserved for him. He sighed out and said. "Okay fine if you insist I'll even help get your stuff out from your dorm but on one condition. I can analyze your weapon form."

"I accept but why do you want to "analyze" my weapon form anyway? The sword you created from your tattoo was pretty badass I admit. Is it you have a crush on me or something?" Mara now had a cat grin toward Paul and was lightly tapping his stomach with her shoulder.

"No!" Paul had a light shade of red on him. "Look I like you, your weapon form is fantastic, has great balance, feels comfortable and has no visible stains, I just think that if I have you observed for a long time I can dual wield both you and my version of your weapon form instead of my own swords. The bare minimum for an observation is 5 hours and that's just a decent copy, the longer I analyse you the more closer to the actual weapon which is you. So I just want your permission if I can do it okay?"

"Alright fine but only on when we have a day off." Mara answered to Paul. Paul felt that was a good enough condition and agreed.

After they both left the building they went and headed to Maka and Soul's area where they contacted Lord Death.

"So what did you tell Lord Death?" Mara asked the two.

"All Lord Death said is that we should find this man as soon as possible." Maka replied. "So what did Paul's headmaster say about the attempted assassination on him?"

"He told me that I have to head back to Demon Hunter." As Paul said that Maka started to feel down on herself, Paul was actually going to leave and she barely knew him. For some reason she felt like Paul would be good friend, she actually did wanted to show him and by extension Mara because aside from Soul who he told her that she hung out with, her other friends. Even when Lord Death advised her to show her friends to provide support and help Paul get comfortable, she was going to do anyway. "I refused though, this Ravana was someone I want to take care of myself and not let any hunters get in the way." Paul finished. Immediately Maka felt a surge of relief at the last statement, Paul was actually going to stay here, well at least until he gets hands on Ravana but it's better then him leaving.

"So should we head back to Death City?" Soul asked. "Mara told me she was going to move in at Paul's place and having her be neighbors to us would be pretty cool."

Everyone agreed and after they all went back to Death City Mara immediately grabbed Paul by the wrist and headed straight back to her place. After they headed their. Mara started grabbing all of her stuff and asked Paul if he can find any boxes she had in her closet. Paul went and got them and placed on the main room.

"Why are you bringing a tv?" Paul asked as Mara put the tv she owned into one of the boxes. "I thought we were going for bare necessitates."

"A tv is a necessitie, I want to put it on my room." Mara answered. "Oh that reminds me God Hand."

"What the hell is God Hand." Paul asked this to Mara of the game she picked as her word.

"Oh I'll tell you later." As Mara got the remains of her clothes which was mostly Halestorm shirts (her favorite band) and denim jeans.

After about 2 hours Paul and Mara arrived to Paul's apartment. He dropped the 2 giant boxes that he was lugging and fell down on the floor.

"You're unpacking by the way." Paul added before Mara could say anything.

"Wow your such a lazy ass." Mara said in a humorous way.

"LAZY ASS I JUST-" Paul exclaimed who was too tired to realize it was a joke, but before he could say anything else a door on the opposite side was open showing Soul and Maka standing there.

"Yo Paul yelling that loud while other people are here isn't cool. Besides it will give you a bad impression when you meet our friends." Soul said to Paul.

"Friends, your friends are here this late?" Paul questioned.

"Yeah we usually have a meetup at my place after doing a mission and talk about what happened there." Maka answered. "Do you and Mara want to join us?"

"Sure, come on Paul we got nothing else better to do." Mara said cheerfully.

"But don't we have to-" Again as Paul was about to finish Mara grabbed his wrist and headed to the door.

* * *

 **Wooo now Paul's going to be introduced to the rest of the MC's. Now as always please R &R and tell me what you thought. Next chapter's going to be pretty much Paul's first real day at DWMA.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: When Stars Clash**

Paul and Mara both headed to Maka and Souls apartment room and soon found what looked to be an area with the same structure as theirs but much better decorated, probably because Paul had just moved in but still both of them were surprised to find out there were more people then just Maka and Soul in their apartment.

"Guys this is Paul and Mara." Maka told everyone in her living room.

A boy their age with black hair and white streaks stand up and raised out his hand.

"Hello my name is Death The Kid." He introduced. Both Paul and Mara shaked his hand. "Mara I've heard about you through Soul and from what I can tell, you seem rather symmetrical. As for you Paul, my father has told me that you are one of the best hunters in Division West, it's an honor to have you as a meister." Kid commented on.

"Thank you Death The Kid, I didn't know anybody knew of me being a hunter beforehand." Paul noted.

"Oh you can call me Kid, but my father had-" Kid noticed that Paul had nine small hair streaks on his forehead. He used his index finger to push one streak up so they can be 8 on his forehead. "There we go, perfect symmetry." Kid declared to Paul.

"Ignore that. Kid has OCD, it's a trait from his dad." A female voice told Paul from the couch. He and Mara then saw two girls with blonde hair and wearing the same clothes as each other. "My name is Liz." The taller girl introduced to them. "And I'm Patty!" The smaller girl told both of shorter girl said.

Paul and Mara introduced themselves to both girls and went to see if there was anybody else in the apartment.

Mara went to go talk with Liz about clothes while Paul went to go see if Maka or Soul were there. Suddenly a black cat lunged towards Paul. It's eyes right on him.

"Awww it's a kitty cat!" Surprisingly enough it was Paul squealing at the cat. As he started rubbing its back and face with his.

"Wow your a cat person." Mara asked, who looked over at Paul being busy rubbing his hands unto it's fur.

"Yeah I own one back hom-" The cat soon transformed into a purple haired lady and she pinned down unto Paul, his face right on her chest.

"Aw your so adorable! Maybe I should invite you to my bathtimes." The witch named Blair said as she was fondling his face with her breasts.

"Blair!" Maka yelled at Blair. She started running toward her holding a book.

"Oh is this cutie yours Maka?" Blair questioned as she finally stood up, leaving Paul a dazed and blank mess.

"Um no..." Maka answered while blushing from Blair's assumption. "He's just a friend me and Soul met yesterday who just moved in." She added.

Mara had helped Paul get back unto his feet. They saw that Blair was heading toward the bathroom by herself. She gave a sly smile to Paul who shrieked slightly by what she was possibly thinking.

"Sorry about her." Maka apologized. "Blair does that to any guy that comes here."

"I'm fine, just a little weirded out by her."

"Oh really?" Maka wondered. "Usually most guys would have nosebleeds right now but not you."

Paul and Maka walked into the kitchen, Paul hoping nobody would hear him.

"Yeah, I'm not into girls with massive breasts, all of the girls at Demon Hunter are goddamn Amazons. So I'm not into that kind of body from a woman."

That made Maka blush even harder than before considering what she thought about her own body and the fact that Paul was the first person to say such a thing. However she soon starts to notice something was wrong with Paul.

"Hey Paul, you seem… off. Is there anything wrong?"

"Well to be honest, I haven't told Mara this but yeah, something's been bothering me ever since Ravana tried to attack me-" But before Paul could continue, the sound of somebody screaming across the room could be heard.

"YAAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOO!" Blackstar screamed out as he headed off from Soul's room to the hallway.

"Hey Maka I just beat your partner Soul in a game of-" But before Blackstar was about to finish, he gazed his eyes at Paul. Who was just standing around, waiting for Blackstar to finish. "Hey, who are you?" Blackstar gave an intense glare towards Paul.

"The name's Paul Begtse, transfer from Demon Hunter and you?" Paul introduced and asked Blackstar.

"I am your God Blackstar and from what I've heard earlier today, you had just recently transferred to here. This is a new school for you. Everybody keeps talking about you and keeps ignoring me! So let me show you why everyone here worships me and why you should never take the spotlight of this star. Tomorrow, at the top of DWMA's stairs. You and me!"Blackstar challenged Paul, pointing his finger towards him.

"Blackstar what are you trying to-

"Fine I accept." Paul interjected as both Maka and Blackstar were both surprised to hear this.

"Paul your shoulder still needs to rest."

"It's okay Maka, I just need to rest it off and it'll be healed. Besides I'm really itching to see what a Meister can do. Even if my first opponent is a dumbass."

"Hey I heard that! What if I told you Tsubaki agreed for me to use her?" Blackstar proclaimed.

"She agreed on this?"

"Doesn't matter, I can still beat you."

"Alright fine, it's time for this god to leave. Tsubaki let's get of here."

Suddenly a girl was seen coming out of Soul's room, apparently this was Tsubaki. Paul thought.

"Sorry about Blackstar, I agreed so that he'll be satisfied. I'll tell him to be make sure don't get hurt."

Just then Tsubaki transformed into what seemed to be a smoke bomb for Blackstar to use and leave. Once the smoked cleared out Maka started getting really angry.

"What the hell is that dumbass trying to do now! Paul you don't have to go fight Blackstar, I'll take care of that idiot myself." Maka tried assuring Paul but he seemed fine about his offer.

"It's okay Maka. To be honest I'm kind of hoping to kick that cocky prick's ass. I want to test myself against a Meister and I'll show DWMA what a Hunter can really do!" Maka was surprised by the amount of swagger and bravado Paul was displaying.

The rest of the night was spent Paul and Mara getting to know Kid and the Thompson sisters better, as well as getting to know Black Star more through them.

"Usually Blackstar would challenge somebody when they have their first day at the academy. He never challenges anybody ahead of time, he must truly want to test your abilities as a hunter."

"Well if he wants a fight, I'll give him one."

After saying their goodnights to them, Paul and Mara went back to their apartment rooms. Paul went to sleep while Mara went to set up her room.

The next day Paul woke both him and Mara up for his first real day at DWMA.

"So you sure about your arm healing up?"

"Yeah 100 percent alright, you know for somebody who looks pretty chill, you seem to care a lot about my health."

"I'm a weapon, you're a meister now. I can't afford you getting seriously injured, it's my duty to protect you. Even if you are my first meister, I still know what my priorities are."

There was an awkward pause for a few seconds after what Paul heard. He never realised that weapons were this dedicated with their meisters, they acts as practically bodyguards when it comes to fights. He never really felt this amount of protection during combat. This fight against Blackstar will be interesting he thought.

When they both finally arrived, they saw that both Blackstar and Tsubaki were there, standing at the top with other students walking into the school.

"So you finally arrived. When everybody's entered the school we can begin our duel. I can't wait to see the look on everybody's face when I beat a hunter like you."

"And I can't wait to see the look on everybody's face when I kick your ass right in front of the school."

After 10 minutes of waiting Tsubaki transformed into her Ninja Blade mode for Black Star to use. Seeing that it was time for them to go at it, Mara transformed into her weapon form for Paul who went into a sword stance. Both meister readied into position.

Alter Bridge-Addicted To Pain

Blackstar immediately went after Paul. Using Speed Star, Paul was forced to block out any incoming strikes. After barely blocking Black Star's strikes, Paul realised that blocking was pointless and dodged out of the way.

Paul then readies his blade in a different stance. Black Star didn't notice the change and went right after him. In only the first strike, Paul parried the swing which immediately surprised Black Star who moved out of the way before Paul could do anything about it.

"Hmph not bad, but that isn't going to cut it for a god like me!"

Black Star ordered Tsubaki to change weapon forms and was now using a chain scythe and like before, went after Paul.

Meanwhile Stein was taking attendance for his class until he noticed Black Star was missing, he just thought it was nothing. After all Black Star would usually try and fail to challenge any new student in DWMA but he also noticed that Tsubaki was missing as well as the fact that Soul was there.

"Soul, Maka, is there any reason why both Black Star and Tsubaki are not here? I recall they aren't on a mission."

"Well Black Star challenged a new student to a duel and he accepted." Maka answered.

"Hmmmm, well if that's the case." Stein then wrote the textbook pages for his students to look over and instructed Maka, Soul, Kid, Patty, and Liz to the front of the school. Once the got outside they saw that Black Star and Paul were still going at with both their weapons clinged together and were trying to power each other out. Eventually Paul let go one hand and out of nowhere, created a new blade out of his hand and swinged it right at Black Star's torso. Black Star immediately got out of the way from another swing of Paul's new blade. It was the same dark oranged blade Paul used against Ravana and pointed it right at Black Star.

Everybody but Stein was shocked at what happened. Finally Stein started to explain what Paul's new blade meant.

"Demon brands, a hunter's specialty." Stein explained. "In order to give themselves an edge over their opponents, hunters gave themselves special tattoos similar to Medusa's. It allowed them to have special powers exclusive to each person similar to what Demon's have, hence the name. What came out of Paul's right hand is his Demon brand coming into effect."

The fight had reached a stalemate until this point, both Paul and Black Star had mostly dodged or blocked any strikes from their weapons and the only good hits Black Star and Paul made to each other were hard punches and forearms to the face.

"The more this goes on, the more interesting Paul becomes." Kid stated.

Suddenly Maka felt a weird surge in Paul's soul, it was faint, but it was still there. A different soul was starting to emerge out of Paul. She decided not to tell anybody, assuming it was probably just Mara.

"I guess I underestimated you but now it's time for this star to end it right now. Tsubaki Uncanny Sword mode now!"

The chain had now transformed into a sword. Paul didn't care and both Mara and his sword had a hellfire like aura around it.

"My thoughts exactly. Soul Resonance, Hell's Razor!"

Paul now wielding two flame swords rushed against Black Star who now had his own. Paul lunged right at him both of their blades went right at each other and both started swinging against each other for an advantage. Black Star would get more hits into Paul, but Paul's hits had more impact from both the two blades and the fire surrounding them. That is until Black Star hits the blunt end of his sword straight in Paul's face. Knocked back Paul saw Black Star going after him tried to slash through him but was dazed to connect it

"Ultimate Move: Black Star Big Wave!"

Paul's body soon gets hit with what feels like an explosion in his stomach as Black Star's soul wave is unleashed into his body. Finally knocking Paul out.

"Wooooo I did it!" Blackstar started celebrating on what seemed to be a win until Paul stood back up, breathing heavily however his voice was different. With each breath he took in, his voice started getting deeper, and distorted, his eyes started looking darker. Maka immediately realised that it wasn't Mara, it was something else from Paul's soul that had been growing more and more. It felt like similar to a kishin but more potent, more rage fueled. Stein immediately stepped in and Mara went back to normal to try and calm Paul down.

"Paul calm down, it's okay, just relax." Mara went and checked Paul branding and saw it was glowing beat red.

But as Paul started relaxing the brand slowly lost its glow, Stein went and checked on Paul to see if there was any real harm to him.

"Ms, Flint, would you mind if I take him to the infirmary?" Stein asked.

"No, but is Paul hurt or anything? Because I'm coming with you."

"He's fine, just needs some rest. You can come if you like."

Stein and Mara both dragged Paul over their shoulders and carried him to the infirmary. Maka wanted to ask about what had grown from Paul's soul but realised he would be to busy to answer. So she turned her attention Black Star instead.

"Hey Black Star what gives? You were fighting Paul like he was kishin or something, you even used your Big Wave at him." Soul questioned towards Black Star.

"Well it's a long story." Tsubaki tried to explain.

Meanwhile Mara and Stein had gotten Paul into the infirmary for him to rest after his fight. There Mara wanted answers.

"Professor what was going with Paul? His body and soul started to transform."

"It was Paul's soul being invaded, there was something trying to take over Paul's mind and body. It was a demon."

* * *

 **Ayyyyyyy and chapter 4 is finished! I apologize for the long wait, hopefully this chapter was worth it. The next one won't a year to make, I promise. But what's going to happen now? It looks like the demon is starting to emerge but what will happen to it and can Paul try to contain it? If you would like, please give it a review for your thoughts.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: A Demon Reawakens**

Paul woke up to what looked to be a pitch black area, nothing could be seen except his body. Then something started forming right in front of him. It looked to be his soul reaching out of him and creating something else. It was his demon self. The demon looked like Paul but it's skin had a burned, red tone to it, the tattoo had grown further through his arm and finally the demon had war paint of fangs coming out of it's body.

"This close Begtse, you know that right? If it weren't for that girl and doctor well then, we wouldn't even have this conversation." The demon's voice was deep and baritoned but had a dash of charisma to how it spoke.

"Shut the hell up, how did you become awaken in the first place? Last time I activated you was a year ago and that was against a fight with a demon like you." Paul asked to his demon self.

"Well aside from you using your tattoo which you already know increases the chances of me arriving. Your little fight caused me to want to see what was going on. Look Paul the more you fight, the more I get interested, you should already know. I would probably arrive sooner if it weren't for that girl anyways."

"Mara."

"That's her name? Well her presence was unique… Felt off to see another person synchronize with your own soul like that. What have you been up to anyways?" The demon questioned.

"None of your business, all you need to do is get out of my goddamn mind."

"Fine I'll get out for now, but remember this, one day the world will have to see Paul Begtse's demons come to life."

Suddenly the demon started dissolving, forming a red fog around Paul. Finally reaching his shoulder, the fog immediately turned into burning acid around his body causing Paul to scream out in terror. That's when he woke up from his infirmary bed. Realizing it was the real world, Paul started checking to see where he was, he saw an open window, a small bouquet of flowers, a small book stack and a couple of glasses of water. He was about to stand up until a door opened and revealed to be a man in stitches and a gear in his head.

"Ah Paul you're awake."

"Who are you?"

"So your mind must have hazy afterwards then." He whispered. "I am professor Franken Stein, but just call me Stein for short. I was the one who help carry you along with Mara after your little fight with Black Star."

"Wait Mara, where is she?"

"Oh she's at class, my class to be specific. I gave them an assignment to work on so that I can check on you." Stein went to grab a chair, turned it around and sat there.

"How long have I been out?"

"Just a couple of hours, I'm surprised though. Demon or not you held your own against a serious Black Star even if it was my intention for him to act like that."

Suddenly a sea of questions sprouted to Paul's mind but the first thing he asked Stein was this.

"How's Mara feeling after my fight?"

"Hmm" Stein was slightly caught off guard by that being Paul's first question.

"Margaret's-"

"Wait Margaret?" Paul was both amused and annoyed at how Mara never told him her full name and how she was able to keep that a secret.

Stein continued. "Margaret's handling it fine if a little bit reserved on what she saw afterwards-"

Paul's smile went to a straight face as he immediately cut Stein off for his next question. "How do you know I'm half demon?"

It was Stein who now smiled and raised his glasses. "I knew your mother. More then knew, I was one of the few people who was close enough to find out her secret. She was an interesting woman, stubborn, prone to anger but still a gentle soul. She seemed the most alive though, when fighting against Kishin's. When she left all those years ago, I was one of the two people she kept as contacts and we would discuss how our lives had been going, she would talk about working with a hunter, fighting other demons like herself, and you." Stein stated at Paul for only half a second until he started smiling again. "Don't think that I had romantic feelings with her. We were close, but we both agreed that the relationship would probably end in a bloody mess. Besides I already have babies coming soon."

Meanwhile Maka had just finished the assigned work and was looking off into the room wanting to know if Paul had awakened from his rest after his fight with Black Star. Soon she saw that Mara had stood up and was leaving class, she decided to go after her and before Mara left the class grabbed her shoulder, slightly surprising her.

"Hey Mara are you going to go check on Paul?" Maka asked.

"Um yeah, I think after a few hours he's got to be awake by now."

"Well is it okay if I come too?"

"Um sure but I think you should ask if your friends behind you want to go as well."

Suddenly Maka turned to see all of her friends behind her and Mara and jumped in surprise.

"Yo you guys going to go check out how Paul's doing, mind if we come along?" Soul asked for everybody's convenience.

Both Mara and Maka just replied with "Sure" and proceeded to head off into the infirmary area.

"So why did Black Star challenge me again?"

"I gave him an assignment for them to face off against you and see whether or not your combat prowess really holds up. Black Star and Tsubaki were reluctant at first, however I convinced them that you can take the brunt of most of their attacks, which you did."

"Still, I lost. Bet you were disappointed."

"No, a lot of students in the DWMA, despite being more level headed and less impulsive than Black Star, are nothing when he becomes serious. He spent most of the time during the fight treating it like he really was fighting a Kishin or a powerful fighter like yourself. I was more than impressed to see you be able to hang on for such a long amount time."

"But do the rest of them know already about what the reason was?"

"They already know, don't worry. Maka gave both me and him a really a big chop to the head. But there's one more thing I need out of you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can I see your brand?" There was a slight pause for both Paul and Stein until Paul just sighed and realised what he meant.

It was at this point Maka and the rest were near the infirmary room where Paul was resting. They realised the door was closed and slightly opened it without causing any noise. Then they all looked at Paul and Stein in the room. Paul had taken off his grey overshirt revealing a light weighted, black chestplate on him, which revealed his demon branding. Suddenly a broad sword appeared out of thin air and onto Paul's hand.

"The brand of creation, give me 5 straight hours to study on a weapon and I'll be able to replicate it on a physical level."

Suddenly the blade went straight at the door and almost hit everybody who was peeking at the room. It crashed and lost all momentum on a wall but everybody had their mouth opened.

"It also has some light telekinesis to it." As Paul had decided to point out after nearly lodging the blade into the door.

Stein let out an amused smile and remarked. "Paul I think you'll fit in just fine." Then he looked at everybody else, half scared to death at the fact that a sword had almost been planted right in their bodies.

"So you mind asking me why you guys decided to peep on me and Stein?"

After a few minutes of explanation from the gang and Mara, Stein spoke up from the explanation.

"Well if you want to check up on Paul, then that's fine. I was just about ready to finish talking with him, when you're done, meet me back at my class, I have a special lesson to teach everybody." Stein gave Paul a wink, to which Paul winked back indiscriminately, then Stein stood up and headed out of the room. Leaving Paul with everybody else.

"Before you guys say anything, first things first. Black Star, I'm sorry for getting into a fight with you. That seemed like a bad first impressions, so I apologize." Everyone in the room looked at Black Star.

Black Star started laughing. "Bwahahahahahaha! I'll forgive you this time Paul, as your strikes still managed to wear down this Star. However in order for me to truly forgive you, you must-" As Black Star was about to finish his command, but saw that Maka had her book readied in her hands. Realising that this could lead into a permanent imprint on his forehead, Black Star stopped talking and just accepted the apology.

"Paul you really don't need to apologize, I think by the time you get to know Black Star, you would probably just ask for him to shut up." Soul remarked and everyone laughed for a bit until Maka was the one who asked Paul about his conditioned.

"So Paul are you going to be okay?"

Paul smirked "Don't worry, my stomach still feels like an explosion hit it, but I'll be up soon enough. You guys can go, I just need some rest."

Everyone complied with Mara being the last to leave.

"Hey, don't go off doing something stupid again okay."

"Alright I promise." Paul gave a small pause. "Margaret."

Both Meister and Weapon smiled at each other as Mara closed the door leaving Paul all to himself. In reality he was already well rested but he needed time to think about his dream.

"I can still feel his presence in my brand. I have to stop using it, at least for awhile. Maybe I really should get used to handling Mara's handling as a weapon." Paul thought to himself. For now though he saw that there was still the small book pile and decided that reading would be a good way to clear his mind.

At this point, the gang and Mara had arrived to Stein's class for his lesson. They all sat at their own seats except that Maka and Mara were a seat apart with an empty spot. Maka placed a stack of books there, while Mara took off her own jacket and placed it on the chair.

"I apologize for my brief excursion, I went to go check on our new student, Paul Begtse. Paul's background is actually in relation to today's lesson. We aren't dissecting anything." Everybody had a huge sigh of relief. "We'll be learning about what demons are..."

* * *

Hey just one month! See I told you guys it wouldn't take THAT long to make chapter 5. Anyways hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all next time.


	7. Chapter 6

Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter for Am I Demon! This one is a bit longer than usual as I'm going to start expanding on the lore for the story. Oh and one last thing, Mara is just Margaret now just so that I don't get confused when writing her and Maka in a scene together.

* * *

 **Chapter 6: A Dance With The Devil**

A mess, that was just about the only word that could accurately describe what Katsuyori Begtse's office was. Though, maybe one word wasn't good enough to describe it, two words would be better. The room was more of a justifiable mess. Katsuyori's room was filled with papers and tapes of identifications of demon convicts, a projector for any analysis on his hunts, an embarrassing amount of book stacks for research purposes, and a couple of his family pictures for personalization reasons. Yes Katsuyori was living the Beleth Hunter life, Beleth Hunter is the highest, non headmaster, rank in Demon Hunter and was awarded for killing an Primordial Demon convict, which were so rare, only 23 of them were officially spotted by Hunters. Despite the massive accomplishment it must have been for a Hunter to receive such a rank, Katsuyori was more focused on looking after his son, Paul, then anything else. He was trying to organise the amount of paper he had into stacks which would help at least make the room cleaner, until he started to feel an itch on his branding. Realising it was a call, Katsuyori allowed his brand to start projecting an image. It was Katsuyori's son Paul, and he was sitting at a bed.

"Son! Great to see you again. Headmaster Malphas recalled me about your situation, if you need help against this Ravana, we can go ahead and take him out."

"Actually dad, I didn't call you for help, well actually I did, but not for that reason." Paul held his breath. "It's back."

Katsuyori's smile turned into a concerning look. "I see, have you done anything bad while at the school?"

Paul tried to defend himself. "Well I did get into a fight with one of the students... But only because he asked for it!"

Katsuyori had an embarrassed smile back to him, all too familiar with his son's. "What am I going to do with you son?" Paul annoyingly looked away to a different direction. "Well try not to go looking for fights next time, you are staying there for awhile. Might as well make some new friends. I know some of them can be a pain in the ass, but try to make the best of things. Oh and how's your weapon partner, heard she's a cutie?"

Paul's face went beet red after hearing that. "H- Her name's Margaret, sh- she's pretty cool, but definitely not pretty, may be a bit annoying to deal with, but I'm glad she's my partner." Paul responded.

"Pfft, just like your mother."

"One last thing I want to ask dad, do you know Professor Stein?"

"Oh him, your mother told me about the guy. He's seems a bit outlandish, but I've heard the man's a damn good fighter and is knowledgeable in just every field of science. She even told me he knows about Demons."

Meanwhile Professor Stein was continuing his lesson on that same subject.

"Demons are ancient spirits of nature fueled by their own passion and desires of war and combat. While they may come across as savage beasts, they aren't all mindless. Most of them are solemn, poetic beings that embrace their culture."

Stein went ahead and drew a basic sketch of would a normal Demon soul would look like.

"Now what makes the history of Demons a hard subject to documentate is that their history has only been recorded for the past 1000 years and yet it's been told that they've existed for as long as mankind. What is certain, is that 400 years ago, humans came into contact with Demons. Despite early opposition, both species made a clear pact with each other. Humans would rule the skies above while Demons conquered the land below. This truce would continue until 200 years ago When Demons started appearing in our world, in a far off land, as bloodthirsty warriors looking to conquer for themselves. At that time, humans didn't know what to do, as they had never been prepared to face such a threat like that, until other Demons started appearing to help humans which caused further confusion. You see, Demons are creatures not unlike Kishins, they are beings that all inherently crave the desire for blood and while some of them keep the desire suppressed, others wish to let it embrace them not unlike what you of Kishins and madness. When the Demons that wanted to help the humans arrive, they offered them powers that would normally be restricted to their own souls, a power known as brands and they offered humans the opportunity to bind them into their own soul. Each brand corresponded to their own soul wavelength, and their resonance to that brand. A group of warriors volunteered to use this new power and these new demonic powers was what allowed to them to dispose of all the invaders in their own land, they became the first Demon Hunters."

Suddenly a projection of images appeared in front of the classroom. Warriors, soldiers in conflict, were gifted with these new brands of demonic power. Soon the images showed off what these powers were capable of, including creation, elemental, and structural manipulation. It left all of the students in awe, and wondered how powerful Demon Hunters can really be. Soon Maka raised her hand up once the images faded away.

"Professor Stein, how is a regular human able to even control powers as potent as the ones shown? Clearly there must be a price for them."

"Ah, a good question Miss Albarn. Demon brands are connected through the user's brain and that's what allows them to use their powers. However the brains still carry Demon essence's to it which affects their soul as well. Slowly, over the course of decades, the mind of a user of a Demon brand deteriorates far more faster than a regular human, visions of Destruction, the sounds of screaming, and smell of blood soon starts getting into the senses of Hunter. Until only a mindless, angry, and violent creature remains..."

Meanwhile Paul had just finished talking to his dad when suddenly he started feeling the repercussions over meeting his other half. His vision started getting blurry, Paul tried to look at his own hand when all he can see is a blob that somewhat resembled it. Paul tried to grab a nearby glass of water, but by the time he reached it, his body was shaking so badly he shattered the glass in a second.

"You will give in, it will only be a matter of time."

Paul soon started hearing loud noises, he couldn't tell where it was coming from but they started getting more louder and more louder until Paul leaped from his bed, and created a weapon off his brand, it was a massive meat cleaver that was almost his size. Out of pure agony Paul started mindlessly slashing the air, trying to make the noises and pain stop.

"Not today, not tomorrow, but one day…"

Paul started violently screaming but he couldn't even hear his own voice, soon his vision started getting more blurrier, his swings started getting faster and mindless, swords started sprouting from his brand and the noises started getting even louder.

"Embrace your legacy, she would do the same thing."

The moment his other side referenced his mother, Paul let out a violent, painful scream that finally broke through all the noise and returned his vision to normal. Paul had taken a look around the infirmary room and for a second couldn't recognized the ravaged mess used to be where he was resting. The walls were filled with cuts and messy slashes, the chair and table were destroyed, and the bed and its sheets were shredded in bits. All Paul could do was put himself through a corner and ponder at what destruction he could cause if he let his other half into full control. But just as he thought about all of this though, Paul took a look at his brand. It was what's causing all of this turmoil and stress to his mind. Paul contemplated cutting it off, release the pain, but realised his brand was not the main cause, it was something on the inside, something that could only be stopped from within.

Class was over by the time Stein had finished his lecture on Demons. He reminded everyone that there was a test coming next week and to study for it. As he dismissed the class, Stein grabbed a stack of class books and was about to head off until Margaret came up to him and asked if she could visit Paul.

"Please, I want to check his condition." Margaret pleaded.

"Like I would deny a Weapon to see their Meister. Come, I think Paul will be fine."

Unfortunately when they got to the infirmary room, they found the mess Paul created and Paul himself, sitting in a corner, with a dead expression. Margaret immediately ran and up and tried to comfort him but Paul's body was motionless.

"Margaret I'm going to have to let you leave for a couple of minutes.

"Hell no! Look around you professor, it must have been Ravana. I'm going to kill that son of a -"

"It was not him, I guarantee that. This is a matter that Paul and I need to discuss. I assure you that after five minutes, he's all yours."

Margaret angrily walked off the room and headed outside. It was at that point Paul could ask.

"Stein, did my mom ever have to deal with these... I don't know what to call it. But was she like this sometimes?"

Stein sat down next to Paul, grabbed one of his cigarettes and lit it.

"Yes."

Paul sighed as Stein smoked one of his cigarettes.

"But far worse." Stein answered

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever she was fighting against the Kishin eggs, your mother was always, passionate. She wasn't filled with rage, but there was this intensity that always seemed to keep building within her as a fight went on. Gradually that intensity did turn into rage and during one fight against a particularly difficult Kishin, I saw her other side. The passionate yet caring woman that I had grown to befriend turned into a violent creature of madness."

Paul looked disjointed, he knew about his mother's demon heritage and always kept that as a secret. But to know that her transformation occurred before she even met Paul's dad was something he never knew.

"That's why I want to help you." Stein proposed.

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since your mother left, I started studying about Demon biology and psychology and while I was never able to know the big picture about them, as books about Demons are incredibly rare. I have been able to find a way to treat cases like you. Where your split Demon and human personas aren't just a facade, but part of being a rare Demon half born. Every week I want to check up on you and see if your mind and body is holding well."

"Just how exactly are you going to help me anyways? A quick physical check up and a couple of questions aren't going to make my other side spontaneously go away."

Stein grabbed something out of his pockets and showed it to Paul. It was a bottle of red pills.

"Personally made, take these every morning, it'll help drive away your other half. The flip side is that you can not use your branding, these pills remove one hundred percent of your demon makeup initially, and while eventually you can start to use them again, you're going to have to learn to rely without it for now. It's time you become a Meister here Paul, and the first step is learning to fully rely on your weapon. Your clothes are on what's left of that bed. Checkups start next week. I suggest going home, you've had quite a day and you haven't even sat down on a desk yet."

"Stein, before you leave, I have one question."

Stein stopped moving to the door to listen.

"Why's Margaret so protective of me, doesn't she already know I'm a hunter and can protect myself."

"Oh, that's right, hunters don't have the luxury of a partner, they work solo. Anyways, this is Margaret's first time as being a weapon, for a long time she was never able to match soul wavelengths with anybody. It affected her performance as weapon mentally as she thought that she was different in a bad way. Until you arrived, she was ready on becoming an autonomous weapon and now she's finally found that special someone to be compatible with her. Now she wants to make sure she doesn't fail her duties of being a weapon for you and thus is the reason why she's protective of you whenever you're in danger. Don't worry though, like a lot things here, you'll get used to it. Margaret may seem a bit too juvenile with her age, but she's a good student and I'm certain you've already developed a bond with her."

And with that Stein left the room. Leaving Paul by himself to go ahead and change. After putting his clothes on, Paul exited the now destroyed infirmary room and was greeted by a massive bear hug from Margaret.

"FROM NOW ON, I AIN'T LETTING YOU OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Screamed Margaret.

"Don't worry though, like a lot things here, you'll get used to it." Stein's voice echoed back to Paul.

After remembering what Stein told him about Margaret, Paul didn't really complain about it though that didn't mean he liked getting choked to death by her so he asked her to release him. When she finally did, Paul asked her if Stein taught them anything new.

"Oh well he only talked about Demons and what you used to do, I didn't really pay too much attention, but Maka was taking a lot of notes on his lesson, more so than usual. But nothing else."

Satisfied with her answer, Paul proposed that they go home, Mara agreed and were soon out on the streets of Death City. The smiling sun soon started fading out and most students had already gotten back to their homes. Margaret and Paul almost reached their apartment as well but soon found a large package on the front entrance, it had a note intended for Paul and was signed by somebody. Paul knew whose handwriting it could be.

"It's from my dad, I told him about how I'm doing at school and how I haven't set up my room yet. He must have sent me a present from home."

"That must be one hell of a gift if it's that big."

"Well either way, you're helping me carry it to my room."

"What, why?"

"Because I helped you last night it's time for you return the favor."

Margaret groaned as she helped Paul with the giant package from home. It wasn't AS heavy as both of them would think, but it still took them some time to put in Paul's room due to it's size. By the time they reached Paul's room, Margaret sprang to their couch to rest, leaving Paul with the package in his room. Paul was about to use his branding to create a knife but realised what the implications could be. So he went to the kitchen and grabbed a nearby knife. Paul also noticed the refrigerator was nearly empty, as the only things they have came from his Weapon's so he made a note to himself about that.

When Paul finally got back to his room. He started cutting open the package paper and soon the tape off the box, he opened up the box to find stacks of bubble wrap and newspaper wrappings, after about five minutes of digging through, Paul found another box, this one smaller. Cutting through that one, Paul soon found another note reading.

"Son, stab this and you'll feel like you never left home."

Paul's hand contained a small orb in it, knowing that this what he needed to stab, Paul went ahead and cut through and the next thing he knew, his apartment room exploded with furniture. The blast sound had such an effect that Margaret went and opened Paul's room to see what was up.

"Hey Paul are you okay- woah!"

Margaret saw the massive piles of things that consisted in Paul's room. There was a massive tv, alongside stacks of video games and consoles. Shelves and shelves of books and comics, a giant weapon rack with a sign that read "Emergency or Bad Grades", movie posters and a laptop stationed was on Paul's bed. Speaking of Paul's bed, amusingly enough, there was also a stuffed tiger animal lying on the bed. Margaret a light groaning which led her eyes to Paul, laying on the floor, and eyes to the top of the floor.

"Dad, I hate and love you for this."


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Paul's Night Out

Two hours have past since Paul had cleaned his now filled up room. The stacks on the floor were arranged properly, any books from the floor were put on their new shelves, and he made sure to clean up his weapon rack. Paul's weapons were only there for show, they were all made up of weapons that Paul had created using his brand and in order to preserve them he took out their sharpness meaning while they were blunt and could still hurt, they were non lethal, and were just about as powerful as baseball bats. He took off his black chestpiece to get something more casual. He searched through his drawers for something more comfortable to wear until finding a nice, blue, flannel jacket. Paul left his room and noticed a concentrated Margaret playing video games with her headset. He could hear loud sounds of chips being eaten from a half full bowl, sounds of her cracking a new can of soda, and her trash talking somebody online. When he headed into the kitchen, Paul had noticed the only things that were on the pantry were bags of potato chips, and liter bottles of soda.

"Hey asshole, you need to stop feeding the enemy team and start being useful!" Margaret yelled at the TV.

"Yo, I'm heading out to get groceries, you need anything?"

Margaret simply placed an empty can of Dr. Pepper and went back to playing her game. Paul rolled his eyes and headed outside. It was around noon time that Paul went out to the streets of Death City. Paul went east to his direction to try and find a good general direction of where he was heading. After 20 minutes of straight walking Paul came to a realization, he was lost.

The buildings were near identical to the ones Paul was walking by before and the only reason why he was able to find his apartment was because of Margaret being there to guide him, now Paul was by himself and looking for a place he wasn't even sure was in the same part of the city he lived in. He seriously contemplated going back to his apartment and asking Margaret if she knew where the grocery store was, until he noticed someone was coming in his direction. Paul took a closer look to find Maka was there, in an orange jacket and shorts, reading a book while walking. Maka glanced up and saw Paul as well and waved right at him.

"Hey, Paul! What are you doing here so late?"

Paul was screwed, he didn't whether or not he should have answered back with "Oh I'm lost" or make some lame excuse that Maka will surely not believe in.

"Um, uh, I was, uggghh- exploring! Yeah um exploring the city to try and find the grocery store."

"Well if you mind I help you, all you need do to find the grocery store is head left from our place and go right. Here let me show you."

A wave of annoyance hit Paul like a bullet as he was forced to swallow his pride and accept Maka's help. As the two went to the direction Maka had told Paul, they eventually arrived in what looked to be this huge supermarket with what looked like Lord Death's head on the top part of the store.

"Is that-"

"This is Deathgreens, this is where you can find pretty much anything you want. Most people usually like to go to the local marketplace, it's where you can find fresher stuff, but all their good stuff is during the day."

"-a giant skull on…"

Paul whispered the last part as Maka had seemingly ignored his initial question about the store as they both entered. Aside from the giant skull, the supermarket looked like any other, there were certainly an adequate amount of people shopping for food supplies. Checkout scanners could be heard along with loud music coming from the radio speakers.

"So Paul, what exactly do you need?"

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. The refrigerator is completely empty at my place, and apparently seven bags of chips is what constitutes as dinner according to Margaret."

Maka laughed at Paul's snarky remark.

"Well if you want to get set up for this week you should start buying some food that isn't pure junk."

Maka and Paul spent an hour at the store, going through the food items and picking out food for Paul, after Paul was satisfied with the amount that they got. They both checked out and left the supermarket. It was getting late by the time the two returned to their shared apartment.

"Thanks for helping me out Maka, I would've gotten really lost without your help."

"No problem, we are technically roommates after all." Maka giggled.

"Yeah, I guess..."

Paul looked up to the sky, the grinning moon meeting his wondrous gaze up towards the stars.

"This place is weird, my first day as a student, I'm already fighting students here and being sent to the infirmary. I haven't taken a seat in any of my classes yet. I wonder how dad and my friends are doing."

Maka replied with a grin back to Paul.

"You'll get used to it, Death City seems weird but I believe that you'll grow to like living here, who knows, maybe you might wanna stay here for good and be a full-time meister."

"Tch, like that's gonna happen, you really see Paul Begtse, the demon meister in the future?"

"Hey it could happen, I mean you never know."

"By the way, you mentioned this earlier, how exactly have your friends been dealing with your sudden transfer? Even if it's only a year, it must have been a shock."

"They were pretty pissed off at our headmaster for the decision. I was able to calm them down after explaining it was for the good of the school myself. Demon Hunters do a lot of traveling anyways, so we usually keep in touch with our phones."

"Hey you mind if we share contact information?"

"Sure."

As the two both begin sharing their phone numbers to each other. The butterflies in Paul's stomach were slowly fading away, it really felt like he was starting to form a relationship with Maka. Whether or not it would be romantic, Paul knew that at least he had started to form a bond in this new place. As the two both said their goodbyes on their way to their respective apartment rooms. Paul had found a sleeping Margaret on top of the couch. Not wanting to wake her up, he decided to use his recently bought goods to make dinner for himself. After cooking his meal, a rather simple looking red curry dish, Paul went to the living room and turned on the TV. Paul was about halfway through his food when the smell of it started getting into Margaret's nose. The smell of hot spicy curry awoke the weapon, now in a hungered frenzied state, she immediately tried to pounce on Paul and his food.

"Curry, me want now! Gimmie gimmie gimmie gimmie!"

Paul immediately plants his palm over his partner's face. As Margaret starts wailing her arms but to no avail.

"Nah ah ah, you're not going to get anything for dinner unless you help me with the cleaning of this place."

"No fair, I want food now!"

"And you're going to get food soon, if you can help me."

"Fine! So unfair!"

Satisfied, Paul put his away curry in the microwave to keep it warm and had now ordered Margaret to help dust the living room and clean up her mess that she left on the table. Once that was over, Paul cooked up a nice plate of curry for her as well. Margaret gnawed at the food, scarfing it down to the point of almost chocking it, thankfully there were two glasses of water on standby.

"In other news, Witch activity seems to have gone in an all time low as Witch sightings have all but been untraceable ever since the destruction of the Kishin Asura."

Paul and Margaret were both finished with their food as they were watching TV. Paul was the first to get up and grabbed both plates to start cleaning the dishes. By the time he was done, he found that Margaret was sleeping on the couch. Not wanting to awaken his weapon partner, Paul just grabbed a blanket and placed it over Margaret. After turning off the TV and the lights, Paul headed back to his room. This would usually be the time for Paul to start reflecting on the day but he was do tired from his fight with Black Star, his demon side almost taking control, and of course the most exhausting one of all, buying groceries, that he was absolutely drained of energy. Paul simply took a quick shower and changed to something comfortable to sleep and rested through the night…

Maka could take pride in that she was able to wake earlier than most people of her age. It was needed after all, she had to go make breakfast for her, Soul and maybe Blair if she felt like it. Speaking of Blair, Maka noticed that the black cat wasn't around. She probably was taking a walk, Maka assumed and began making breakfast for her and Soul. While cooking she noticed that her phone was ringing. It was Paul, why he was calling early confused Maka as she answered the call.

"Hello"

"Maka, both you and Stein told me that I'll get used to being here but I feel like it's getting harder for me to do so."

"Really, what makes you say that."

"Well I'm dealing with something personal right now and I don't know if you can really help me on this. It involves being here."

"Paul, you have Margaret, she's your weapon and your partner. You should start relying on her more often. It's best that the two of you get closer, it'll help improve your guys relationship more if you two can rely on each other."

"Well if you say so, thanks for the advice Maka. I really appreciate it."

"No problem."

As the two meisters hanged up their phones they both went ahead and continued their activities. While Maka continued her cooking, Paul was ready to start asking for Margaret's help for his "problem". That "problem" being Blair, who was on his bed, sleeping right next to him, making meow sounds, while spooning the meister so tightly that he could barely move, naked…

"MARGARET I NEED YOUR HELP!"


End file.
